Watkins said: “That’s a testament to Coca-Cola No Sugar’s flavour. Taste tests showed it’s actually preferred by a majority of Classic Coke drinkers and at least equally liked by lovers of Coke Zero.

“We’ve heard the message on consumer wellbeing, and we’re delivering with low and no sugar options for all of our major beverage brands.”

“We’ve heard the message on consumer wellbeing, and we’re delivering with low and no sugar options for all of our major beverage brands.”

Watkins noted that the increase in sales is an indication of successful in-store execution and market campaigns.

The company has committed to a 10% reduction in sugar content across its Australia and New Zealand portfolio by 2020, as well as a net 20% reduction in Australia by 2025.

Watkins further added: “We have achieved strong progress against this target with a net 5.7% reduction of grams of sugar per 100ml across our portfolio of sales against the 2015 baseline.

“We also saw good results from products like Coca-Cola Raspberry, and the launch of Coca-Cola Orange No Sugar and Coca-Cola Vanilla No Sugar. And we’re leading the way in New Zealand with the world-first launch of Coca-Cola Stevia No Sugar.”